The Prank War
by Marie The Crocheter
Summary: Joe accidently angers a newcomer to the village, which escalates into an all out prank war among the villagers! An STH fic, which I haven't seen many of around here...
1. A Little Accident Goes a Long Way

Oh my gosh. It's been over 6 months since I last posted anything on Fanfiction.net. Well, I've been really busy, and events in real life have been keeping me from doing much. I'm going to try to work on my other stories, too, but... I have a few new ones.

This is my first attempt at a Harvest Moon story, based off the PS2 game Save the Homeland. It's actually based off an RPG my sister and I were playing. I was playing as Joe's team (Joe, Katie, and Dia) while my sister was Alan's team. Since I was playing as Joe, I was able to sympathize with him better and wrote this story mostly in favor of him and Katie, heh...

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harvest Moon. Natsume, Marcome, Victor Entertainment, and any other companies that I've forgotten to mention own it. However the following characters: Alan, JC, Jason, and Kayla are my sister's creations, used with her permission. Any other made-up character is mine.

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The Prank War  
Chapter 1: A Little Accident Goes a Long Way...__

It had been almost a year since Sugar Village's demolition scare, and life had gotten back to normal (more or less) for all the villagers. Within that year, three young men had moved in and built a gym: Alan, JC, and Jason. 

"Mornin', Louis," JC called as he entered the tool shop. "Gotten that tool I asked for yet?"

"No, not yet," Louis answered from inside the rocket-shaped thing in the middle of the room. He claimed it was a dryer, though a very odd prototype, that's for sure According to Louis' wife, Lyla, it worked just fine. Even so, Louis wanted to try to make it better, and had taken it into his shop so he could work on it during the day. "The mail service is slow in these parts." He chuckled. "Thought you would have noticed that by now."

"Yeah, well, doesn't hurt to ask. So, can I buy some AP medicine from you, or are you too busy right now?"

"Just leave the money on the counter. actually, why don't you go to the flower shop and give it to Lyla? I'll probably forget about it if you leave it on the counter."

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Why don't you just stop working on that thing for a moment "Uh, OK. I'll give it to Lyla." JC took the AP Medicine and left.

The flower shop was right next to the tool shop. No, not across the street from it. This village was so small, that there wasn't even really a well-defined street. Just a path. JC and his brothers had been surprised when they'd found that out, but they'd gotten used to the dirt path rather soon. 

Lyla was alone in the shop, looking bored. "Oh, hello," she perked up when she saw JC, "May I help you?"

"I need to pay for this," JC held up the AP Medicine. "1000G, right?"

"Yes, you're right. Um, why didn't Louis?"

"Working on the dryer."

Lyla shook her head. "Still? He got up early this morning, claimed he had a great idea Well, I'll give the money to him."

"Thanks." JC said goodbye to her and went back to the gym.

The gym had been set up on Brownie Ranch, the land given to them as a small gift from their cousin, Bob. Bob and his younger sister and brother, Kayla and Tim, had been excited to finally have some permanent help on their ranch. 

The owner of the gym was actually Alan, the oldest of the three brothers. Alan, however, didn't have a very good sense of leadership. He was way too jocular to take anything seriously. So JC ended up doing most of the work, despite the fact that he was the youngest.

"Yo, what took you so long?!" Alan exclaimed when JC finally got back. "I've been waiting forever!"

"Just had to take a little detour in payment," JC answered coolly. "I got it."

Alan grabbed the AP Medicine and drank it all in a few gulps. He wiped his mouth. "Ah, much better."

Jason was busy talking on the phone. "Oh, great guys," he said when hanging up, "Woody just called. He's not going to be able to look at our roof today, so his apprentices are gonna do it."

"Gwen?" JC asked, hopeful.

"Nope. His _apprentices_. Gwen isn't his apprentice."

"Dang."

"Those two geeks then? That wanna-be fisherman?" Alan asked.

"Yeah, him. And the other guy, whatever his name is. They'll be here soon."

Alan was sorting through some healthy yogurt treats we kept. "Like how soon?"

"Any minute."

Sure enough, about ten minutes later, Joe and Kurt arrived.

"Hey," Joe waved in greeting, while Kurt did nothing. "Where do ya need it looked at?"

"Up here," JC motioned to the top left corner, outside. "It sags a lot during the rainy season."

Joe was carrying a ladder. He stood it against the gym and climbed up to take a look. "Ew"

"What?"

"There's a ton of stuff caught in the gutter. It won't let water drain. That's your problem."

"Oh, gross!" Alan grimaced. "Can you clean it?"

"Yeah, let me get some stuff." Joe hopped down from the ladder. "Kurt, I'll need some scraping equipment."

Kurt nodded and rummaged around in the toolbox before handing some tools to Joe. Joe hopped back up onto the ladder and began scraping out some of the gunk in the gutters.

"Oh sick, this looks like manure and smells worse," Joe nearly gagged. "Worse than yogurt! How'd stuff smelling like this get in here, anyway?"

"It happens," Alan answered. "And it doesn't smell like yogurt."

"Well, I don't like yogurt," Joe nearly snapped. "And this is really gross. See?!" Joe flung some at Alan, meaning for it to land right in front of him.

Instead, it landed _on _Alan

JC and Jason burst into laughter. "Oh, man, Alan! Bet you could attract any girl with that wonderful scent!" JC laughed.

"Whoah, sorry, man," Joe laughed as well while Alan glared at him. "That was just an accident. No need to try to kill me with that look!"

Alan said nothing, just went back in to change.

Joe finished what he was doing. "All right, all done." He hopped down from the ladder. "Be sure to call us again if you have any problems."

"Sure thing!" JC and Jason both waved to Joe.

Alan came back out. "That jerk! Did you see what he did?!"

"It was an accident, man," Jason reminded him.

"Hmph, _accident,_ yeah, sure."

"Hey," JC asked, looking a little worried. "You're not gonna do something to him, are you?"

"Maybe"

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A few nights later, a shape crept through the Walnut Forest, up to a little shack. The shadowy figure took out a crowbar, tried to unlock the door, found that it was already unlocked, and went in. Two figures lay sleeping inside the shack. The shadow crept up to one of them, put something all over his face  
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"AAAAAH!!" Joe woke up in a panic. At the other end of the room, Gwen was doubled in laughter.

"Oh man, Joe! What were you doing last night?!"

Joe wiped all the yogurt from his face. "Gross! Who did that, I wonder?"

"How drunk were you when you got home from the bar?" Gwen was still shaking with laughter.

"I wasn't all _that_ drunk"

"He didn't have any yogurt with him when he got home," Kurt said quietly. "Someone played a prank on him."

"Who else was at the bar?" Gwen asked.

"Bob," Joe answered. "And the boss."

"Maybe Bob did it," she suggested. 

"Nah, doesn't seem like him to do that," Joe mused. "Well, I'll find out and pay them back good!"

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The answer came later that morning, when Joe and Kurt were at work splitting wood to sell as firewood. Jason and Alan came to buy some wood, and Alan stopped to talk with Joe.

"So, Joe, anything interesting happen last night?" Alan asked with a grin.

Joe stared at him. "It was you, wasn't it?! That yogurt?"

"What'cha think?" Alan laughed. "That's what you get for cleaning out the gutter on me!"

"That was an accident, man," Joe pressed. "That yogurt thing wasn't."

"So? I just hope you learned to be more careful."

Joe sighed as he got back to work. "That jerk What do you think?" he asked his brother.

Kurt said nothing.

"Some help you are," Joe grumbled. "But I have an idea"

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	2. The War Begins

Oh, yeah, in case you're wondering, Alan, JC, and Jason are Bob and Tim's cousins, while Kayla is Bob and Tim's sister. She's supposed to be 19 in this story, while Tim is 13, Bob 27, and the other guys are also in their 20's. Originally, Kayla was supposed to be Lyla's sister (thus the similar names) but that didn't work out for the story.

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The Prank War  
Chapter 2: The War Starts__

Late that night, right after the bar closed, Joe went to the café and knocked on a side door. A sleepy girl with long, strawberry-blonde curls answered the door.

"Yes?" she mumbled. "What do you want at this hou Oh! Joe! Something wrong?"

"No, Katie I just need some jam for something."

"Jam?" She was puzzled. "What for?"

"Alan. He hates jam. Particularily, really sweet jam."

"Ooh, I just made blueberry jam this morning!" Katie escorted Joe into the café through the kitchen. "I accidentally put too much sugar in it too."

Joe grinned. "Perfect! How much will it cost?"

"Nothing. No one else would take it anyway."

Joe put the jam in a box and Katie wrote a little note saying "To Alan". Since it was in her handwriting, Alan might not know who it was from or something like that.

"Tell me how it goes," Katie told him in parting.

"Heh, I will!" Joe waved to her and left.

Joe went straight to the gym and left it on the doorstep, then ran away.

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"Does this look right?"

"Yeah, now try it."

> > __
>> 
>> Thud!
>> 
>> "Oops, not right Try again."
>> 
>> __
>> 
>> Wham!
>> 
>> "For goodness' sake" JC glared at the machine that Alan was trying to use,  
then at Alan. "Be more gentle, man!"

"Sorry." Alan pulled down a bar that lifted a few weights, totaling 140 pounds. The cord that was holding up the weights broke, and they all came crashing down onto the floor.

"Geez, you did a good job of assembling that," JC sarcastically told Alan.

"Well, soh-ree, Mr. Perfect. Guess I'll just go out and see if Bob needs any help!" Alan left his brothers and headed towards the stable.

However, a box on the gym's doorstep caught his eye It was addressed to him!

"Odd," Alan thought aloud, "I never saw the postman come today"

He cautiously opened the box, then took a look at its contents.

"."

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"Well, I'll be, big ol' Alan's afraid of some blueberry jam!" Jason laughed. "Come on, man, it's not gonna kill you."

"It might be poisoned," Alan pointed out.

"Who left it, I wonder? It's from the Sunny Garden Café." JC was looking it over.

"Katie?" Jason suggested. "I dunno."

"Katie maybe. That looks like a woman's handwriting," JC agreed. "But why?"

"Oh man"

"What? Oh, Alan, you didn't play some sort of a"

"I did!" Alan groaned. "I kind of, um, smeared Joe's face with yogurt while he was sleeping"

The other two burst out laughing. "YOGURT?! While he was ASLEEP?! That's great!" JC was doubled over.

"But, but why'd Katie send this?" Jason wondered.

"Dunno. Well," Alan shrugged, "Ever since we came here, I've kinda gotten the idea that she and Joe have something for each other. Maybe he asked her to help him."

"By sending _jam_? Hey, I guess he knows you hate sweets, huh?"

"That's right, Jason. But wait, I never told him, did tell Katie once, though."

"I'll bet Katie told him what you hate and he sent it to you!" Jason exclaimed. "Wow, Joe's not as dumb as I thought."

"Nor's Katie. Come on, guys, we need to teach them a lesson."

"How?"

"Well I've got an idea"

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Katie woke up at 7 in the morning, like she always did. Normally she'd be off at a boarding school, but she was home on vacation for a few weeks. She loved her all-girls school in Flowerbud City, but there was one major flaw she and most of the girls found in it: it was an _all-girl_ school. No boys! That meant that the girls had to pass their time speaking dreamily about whoever it was that they had a crush on back home. Then once they got back home, they were even more eager than normal to meet with their sweetheart.

Katie, of course, was no exception

The 17-year-old girl knew that Joe had the day off, meaning he'd spend the whole day fishing at Maple Lake unless she intervened. She would usually ask him to help her out at the café, or ask him if he'd like to take a walk through the woods, or something like that. Usually, he'd go with whatever it was that she wanted.

Today she wanted to go for a walk, after working in her garden for awhile. The café was closed, anyway, since her grandfather was a little under the weather.

"I'll be home by 5 o'clock Grandpa, OK?" she called to her grandfather.

"Alright, Katie," came his voice. "Have fun."

Katie opened the side door of the café to go outside there was a box there! Huh?

Katie catiously picked it up. It didn't say who it was from well, not really. There was just a note saying "To Katie: From Someone".

.Huh?

Katie opened it, and screamed.

There was a pile of dead stinkbugs in it!!

Gagging, Katie dropped the foul-smelling package and ran to her garden.

The garden was a mess! Someone had trampled down most of the plants, including the blueberry bush. She frowned and went to find Joe.

Joe had just gotten to the shore of Maple Lake a few minutes ago. He looked at his watch. _Well,_ he thought to himself, _Katie ought to be coming by at any moment to ask me to do something_

"Joe!" Katie ran up, breathless. "Somebody left me this horrible package last night!"

"Really? Who?"

"I don't know it was dead stinkbugs!"

Joe made a face. "Ew! That's new. I've never heard of anyone doing that."

"There was a note on it saying To Katie: From Someone'. That was all."

"Really descriptive I think I might know who it's from."

" Alan?" Katie guessed.

"Yeah," Joe answered. "I didn't think he'd get us back like that for the jam thing, yeesh"

"What should we do?" Katie asked.

"I, don't know," Joe answered. "I'm gonna fish during the day, so maybe I can think of something. Will you meet me at the Harvest Goddess Lake at 4 pm?"

"Sure!" Katie was actually a little disappointed. She'd been hoping that Joe would spend the day with her.

Katie decided to take a walk up to Clove's Villa, since she had no work today. She normally only went there on Mondays, but she thought it might be good to visit with her friend Gina for a little.

When she got to the villa, she found that the daughter of the villa's owner, snobbish Dia, was already outside, sitting on the stone fence around the house and reading a book. She looked up when she saw Katie coming, but didn't say a word.

"Oh!" Katie gasped. "I-I'm sorry, miss. I didn't know that you were"

"No need to apologize," Dia murmured, turning back to her book. She looked up again after a few moments. "What are you doing here?"

"Taking a walk."

"But I have only observed you coming here on Mondays."

"I have today off."

"Oh." Dia turned back to her book again.

"Miss, have you noticed anything odd going on at the gym lately?"

"No," Dia responded right away. She then hesitated and said, "Well, I did observe Kurt's brother throwing some disgusting thing from the gutter on to one of the young men, but that was all."

"Oh, hee hee, yeah, that's the kind of thing I was asking about!" Katie giggled, wishing she could have seen that.

"Why do you ask?"

"Because Joe and Alan have been playing pranks on one another. I want to help Joe, but I'm not sure what to do now." Katie frowned. "Last night, Alan left me a box full of stinkbugs and destroyed every blueberry in my garden so that I can't make blueberry jam for a long time. There's no way I'm going to let him get away with that!!"

Dia hadn't really been listening, but she perked up at the word "blueberry". "Alan does not like blueberries?"

"He hates them!"

"That's truly a shame. I love blueberries, they are very good."

"I love them too. But, Alan hates anything sweet. Blueberries, veryberries, cake, pie, he hates them all."

"Pie?" Dia was thoughtful. "Would he hate veryberry pie?"

"Oh yeah. He'd hate it a lot!"

"Well Martha baked a veryberry pie this morning. Perhaps you could give one piece to this Alan"

Katie's jaw dropped in surprise. "Wha, really?! Wow! Thank you so much!"

"I shall give you a slice." Dia snapped her book shut and motioned Katie to follow her into the house.

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Katie got the pie piece from Dia and took it with her to the gym. To her delight, JC and Alan were talking outside.

"Man, that equipment's not going to be cheap," Alan groaned.

"So? Bob really wants it, and if he'll help pay for it, we should get it."

"Yeah, but Hey, you need something?" Alan turned to Katie with a raised eyebrow. Surely she was aware of the "present" he'd left at her doorstep last night

"Huh? Oh, nothing." Katie quickly answered, holding the slice of pie behind her back. She didn't move.

"Oh-kay, what are you trying to pull?" Alan was really suspicious now. 

"Um nothing well" In a lightning-fast movement, Katie whipped the pie from behind her and threw it full-force at Alan! A gooey orange mess splattered all over his clothes. Katie ran away laughing.

"YOU LITTLE!! You are NOT getting away with this!!" Alan roared as he chased the gleeful Katie off the gym's property. JC was laughing, too.

"Shut up!!" Alan yelled at his brother. "You're not helping."

"Man, gotta admit, that was funny! I wasn't expecting sweet little Katie to do something like that!"

Katie ran past the gym and sought refuge in the flower shop. Laughing, she told Lyla what she'd done. Lyla also laughed.

"It's a good thing it wasn't one of my pies," the florist told Katie. "It probably would have killed him!"

"Your pies aren't that bad," Katie told her older friend. "You're getting a lot better at them."

"Yes, but they either catch on fire, explode, or come out really, really good. Everything I cook is like that."

"Did Louis make your oven and stove?" Katie asked.

"Well, yes before we were married."

"That probably explains why things explode so much," Katie laughed.

Lyla shook her head. "No, it's my own fault The oven and stove itself don't explode. But, it doesn't matter," she added, "because Louis never complains if we have to eat cold cereal for breakfast or sandwiches for dinner."

"Ah, that's what I usually eat, too. Grandpa wakes up long after I do, and is up a lot later." Katie sighed. "It must be so wonderful to be married"

Lyla smiled. "You're still young, Katie. You'll be married someday, I'm sure of it. And, yes, it is very nice to live with someone you truly love. I'm very glad I got married, even if it wasn't to the first person whom I fell in love with."

Katie had to smile at that one. Lyla had been in love twice! Her true love was a man named Parsley who, though he didn't treat Lyla with any special affection, Lyla managed to fall madly in love with him anyway. Lyla even left town to tell her true feelings to him and was rejected. _Elaborately_ rejected. Lyla had come to his hometown and was just in time to witness his wedding ceremony. They treated her nicely, but she was still very shocked and saddened to see him with another woman. Lyla had returned home heartbroken. Louis, who had long had a crush on her, tried his best to comfort her, though he was shy around her at first and tended to make her laugh even when he didn't mean to. It didn't take very long for Lyla to fall in love with him, too, and they'd gotten married a few months afterward. Lyla seemed very happy, though Katie knew she still pined for Parsley.

Katie checked out the window to make sure that Alan wasn't waiting outside for her or anything. She said good-bye to Lyla and went to meet Joe at the lake.

"Oh, gosh, Joe, you'll _never_ guess what happened," Katie giggled, then told Joe about the pie incident.

"Oh, man, that was great! But the mademoiselle at the villa helped you?" he asked, confused.

"Yeah Miss Dia can be nice sometimes."

"Really? Well, I've hardly met her, but I know that Kurt" he cut himself off, realizing he was about to say something he shouldn't. "Er, anyway, Katie, anything in particular you want to talk about?"

"Nah, not really," she answered. "Well, I'm going back to school next week. Back to the same old boring routine"

"Yeah, I understand ya," Joe sighed. "I do the same thing every day, but I like it, really. I'm glad I don't have to move around as much as you do."

"At least I'm graduating this year," Katie said. "Then I can come back home to stay!"

"Hey, that'll be great! I'd really like to look for job opprotunities in the city, but I don't get much practice here, so the boss says I'm not good enough to go out on my own yet. Neither's Kurt." Joe shook his head. "I love this place, but it's a little sleepy, if you know what I mean."

"Peaceful," Katie suggested. "Yeah, Lyla said she's always on the lookout for some excitement, but too much wouldn't be good."

"You quote Lyla a lot," Joe observed.

"Yeah, well, she's my best friend, what do you expect?" Katie got up and looked into the lake. Even though the sun was setting, she could clearly see the rainbow colors of the water. "I never had a mother, you know. My mother died when I was little, and my grandmother before I was even born. Lyla's always been like a mother to me, since she's so much older."

"Yeah, theer's not too many people in this village," Joe muttered. "And the ones who recently moved in have to be such jerks."

Katie laughed. "Just Alan," she corrected him.

"Right. _One_ of them just has to be a jerk."

"Yeah. A lot of people can be jerks You just have to learn how to get along with them."

"Yeah. That can be hard, though."

"I know." Katie sighed. "You don't think I'm annoying, do you?"

Joe shook his head. "Not at all! I" he blushed, "I like you a lot."

"Hee hee." Katie giggled. "I'm glad to hear that, because I like you, too!"

Both of them were silent for a few minutes. Katie suddenly gasped. "Oops! I forgot, I promised Grandpa that I'd be home by 5! I'd better get going. He's gonna let me run the bar tonight for a couple of hours."

"Really? How late will it be open?"

"From 6 to 9."

"Why the bar and not the café?"

"Because," Katie grinned, "Grandpa thinks I'm old enough now, and I had to choose one, and since we have better business at the bar, I chose that."

"Cool! I'll be sure to come!"

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"She must pay," Alan growled after he changed clothes. JC had told Jason and Bob about the pie incident, and all three of them were hysterical with laughter by the time JC was done. They were still laughing while Alan was trying to shut them up when Kayla and Tim came home.

"Bob!!" Tim ran to his brother waving an old piece of paper, "Look what I found!"

"What's so funny, guys?" Kayla asked, confused.

"We'll tell you later," Jason said as he snatched the paper away from Tim. "What's this, little guy?"

"Don't call me that! I'm thirteen you know!" Tim tried to snatch it back, but Jason held it just out of his grasp. "Give that back to me! It's a treasure map!"

"Oh no, not that again," JC groaned. "That's not gonna involve getting yourself stuck in a giant hole in back of the gym again, will it?"

"No! This is different—gimme!" Tim jumped and grabbed the map from Jason. "It's weird. The first step is Enter the Gate to the Sacred Land in Praria Forest'. Where's that?"

"I told him to ask the carpenters," Kayla told the guys. "They built the villa in Praria Forest, and Woody knows a lot about this area, so they might know."

"Sacred Land? Great, so this place supposedly has a goddess, a fish from the heavens, and some sacred piece of land around a rich person's house?" JC shook his head. "This place is weird."

"That's why they didn't tear it down to build a theme park," Kayla told him. "And no one's ever seen the Harvest Goddess or the Silver Fish, that I know of, anyway."

"Joe claims he saw the Silver Fish!" Tim piped in.

"Joe was probably drunk," Alan pointed out. "Like he is almost every night. Hey, Tim, Kayla, you wouldn't happen to know of anything that Katie really hates, do you?"

"Meh, ask Lyla. Or Gwen," Kayla told her cousin. "I'm not that great of friends with Katie. I'll ask Gwen tomorrow when I go and pick up some firewood. Why?"

"Personal business," Alan mumbled.

"Katie threw a pie at him," JC laughed.

Kayla laughed. "Oh, so that's why you guys were laughing, eh? Well, I'll ask Gwen. Bet she'd know."


	3. Poisoned Tea and a Missing Horse

Well, while I was writing this chapter, a certain ending was suddenly opened up to me for the first time on the game, and I just HAD to write about it. Can you tell which one...?

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The Prank War  
Chapter 3: Poisoned Tea and A Missing Horse

"What does Katie hate, huh?" Gwen was sitting on the table in the carpenter's shop, calculating the cost of the wood Kayla was asking for on a notepad. She swung her legs back and forth, almost kicking a shelf in front of her. "I'm not sure," Gwen said finally. "She hates being treated as the child that she truly is, but, other than that, I can't think of any items that she really hates."

"Darn," Kayla was disappointed. "I was hoping that we could get her back for the pie thing."

"Maybe you'll have to do something else. Something drastic."

"Like?"

Gwen grinned. "Joe has tomorrow off, and I know he always goes to the café for lunch."

"So?"

"He always gets food and a drink. Katie usually takes a break along with him."

"And _how_ would that help me?"

Gwen got off the table and rummaged around for something on a shelf. She finally found what she was looking for: a small sachet. She gave it to Kayla.

"It's a powder. A little toxic, just a pinch of it in someone's drink would make them sick."

"Wha?" Kayla was a little stunned. "You're suggesting I should put this in their drinks?"

"Yeah."

"But, wouldn't they notice it?"

Gwen frowned and took the sachet back. "Um, well, yeah, that could be a problem. Hey, I've got a plan." Gwen quietly told Kayla her plan, and Kayla nodded and grinned.

The next day, Joe went fishing as usual, and stopped by the café at noon, just after it opened. Unbeknownst to him, someone was waiting behind the café

"Come on, Kayla, remember the promise," Gwen murmured to herself.

Sure enough, Kayla came on her horse, Lemon Drop, just a few minutes after Joe came into the café. Gwen gave her a thumbs up, and Kayla nodded, a little nervous as to what she had to do. She gently nudged Lemon Drop to a slow gallop, then whispered to the horse. "Throw me."

Lemon Drop reared, and Kayla fell off, she managed to cushion her fall, but it still hurt a little. She'd practiced this for a long time now, but falling off the horse was always hard. She cried out.

"Ow! Ow! Someone, help me! I can't get up!"

Gwen grinned, gave her a thumbs up and ran into the café through a side door. The three inside the café, Katie, Joe, and Wallace, came out to see what the ruckus was about.

"Oh, Kayla! Are you all right?" Katie asked, worried.

Kayla managed to stand up, making it look like she was having trouble. "Ooh, yeah, Lemon Drop got startled and threw me I know it was an accident, right, girl?" Kayla patted her horse. "Sorry to scare you guys."

"Are you alright?" Katie asked again.

"A little sore, but I'll just go home. Can you help me on her?" Kayla asked Joe.

"Sure." Joe helped Kayla onto the horse, and Kayla waved to them. "See you, guys! Thanks for checking to see if I was OK!" Kayla rode off.

Wallace, Katie, and Joe went back into the café, and Katie was sure that she heard the door of the kitchen shut no, it must have just been Joe shutting the front door of the café. Yeah, that was it. She and Joe turned back to their lunch.

"That was weird," Katie said. "I've never seen Kayla come here on her horse."

"Yeah." Joe took a sip of his tea and made a face. "This tastes a little funny"

Katie tried hers. "Ew, bitter." She grabbed a sugar packet and dumped it in. She tried it again. "Ah, much better."

Joe also took a sugar packet, but didn't put the whole thing into his tea. "Yeah, that's better."

"Guess the sugar already in it settled."

"I didn't have any in mine."

"Oh? Well, maybe it was just something else then" 

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It _was_ something else, as Joe and Katie found out the next day.

"I am _not_ getting up," Joe moaned to Gwen who was prodding him with her boot. He was still lying on the floor on his cushion, the covers pulled over his head. "I'm sick today."

"Heh, how long were you out drinking last night?" Gwen demanded, giving him another light kick.

"He didn't go to the bar last night," Kurt told her. "I think he's really sick."

Gwen sighed and crossed her arms, looking at the young man. "Oh-kay, I'll tell Grandpa that you're ill. But get better soon, OK? Grandpa won't like it if you're out for more than one day." Gwen walked out of the shack, Kurt following her.

Louis was waiting outside. "Oh, hi, uh, I'd like to order some firewood," he said nervously. He was always nervous around any girl, other than Lyla.

"OK, I'll help you in the office. Kurt, get some wood together."

Kurt nodded and did as he was told.

"Where's Joe today?" Louis asked. "H-he's not working?"

"Nah, he's sick," Gwen answered as they reached the office. She opened the door, went to the table, and picked up her notepad. "How much?"

"As much as 300G will buy."

"OK," Gwen wrote it down.

"By the way Lyla told me that Katie was sick today too."

Gwen stopped writing and looked up. "Really?"

"Y-yeah."

Gwen tried her hardest not to smile. "Guess it's just a little bug going around then." 

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Kayla was getting a little frantic. She knew that Tim had come to Clove's Villa to continue his search for the Sacred Land, but he hadn't come back yet. Kayla had been taking care of the animals all day, now she had to find her little brother.

She finally found him when she knocked on the door of the main house. "Um, excuse me," she told Gina, the maid, "You haven't happened to see a young boy with black hair dressed like an explorer around here, have you?"

"Do you mean Mr. Tim?" Gina asked. "He is visiting with Miss Dia right now."

Kayla stared at her. "Wha-what? Visiting with Miss Dia?"

"Kayla? Is that you?" Tim suddenly appeared in the entryway in front of her. "Kayla! I asked Miss Clove to help me find the Sacred Land!"

"Um, that's nice Tim, but you should tell us where you're going next time," Kayla sighed. "You know how scary Bob is when he's mad."

"Yeah, but we might be able to find it. Come on!" Tim grabbed his sister's hand and led her into the front room. Dia was examining books on the shelf, intently looking for something.

"Miss Clove might know about the Sacred Land," Tim told Kayla. "She's looking for a book on it."

Dia picked up one of the books and flipped through it. "Oh didn't Katie say she needed Moon Drop Dew for something?"

"Y-yes, Miss," Gina answered. "That was awhile ago, Miss."

"Well, I think I just found the book that says how to make it. But, as for the Sacred Land" Dia sighed and turned to Tim. "I am sorry, Tim. I cannot find the book."

"Aw, man," Tim was disappointed. "Can I look around here to see if I can find anything?"

Dia nodded. "Yes, you have my permission to do that."

"Thanks!" Tim exclaimed. "do I have to go home, Kayla?"

"No," Kayla answered, "I just needed to find where you were is all."

"OK. I'm gonna go look to the carpenter's shop and ask if they know anything!" Tim waved to everyone and left. Kayla followed.

When Kayla got back home, she found that Gwen was there, caring for her splendid red mare, Mille Feuille Napoleon (or just Mille for short). Kayla waved to her. "Hey! What's up?"

"I got off work early today," Gwen said, then snickered. "Since Joe's a bit ill."

Kayla giggled. "I wonder if they'll figure out why they're sick?"

"Dunno. Hopefully no one will find out."

Kayla suddenly thought of something. "Uh-oh"

"What?"

"I did tell Tim where I was going yesterday and why," Kayla gulped. "Shoot! He went to the carpenter's place! And you know that he can't keep a secret!" Kayla ran off to try to stop her brother from going to the carpenter's shop.

But it was too late

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Tim saw that no one was working outside, and the shop was closed. _Rats,_ he thought, _No one's here._ He decided look around and see if anyone was home.

He finally caught sight of one of the apprentices, Kurt. Tim waved to him. "Hey! Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Kurt didn't answer, didn't even acknowledge that he was there. Tim ran up to him anyway and showed him the treasure map.

"You helped build Clove's Villa, right? Do you know anything about this?"

"Go away," Kurt mumbled. 

Tim wouldn't let that stop him. "It says something about a Sacred Land' in Praria Forest. Do you know anything about it?"

Kurt shook his head. Tim frowned. 

"Why's the shop closed today? Can't I talk to Gwen or Woody?"

"Joe is sick," Kurt answered. 

"Ooh Kayla told me that she and Gwen were gonna play some kind of a prank on Joe and Katie. Hehe, I guess they did! Where's Woody?"

"I don't know."

"Well, I'll go look for him." Tim left for the lake.

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Kurt casually mentioned to his brother that Kayla and Gwen had played a prank on him and Katie. Joe immedeately understood.

"Oh, great," he groaned, "Gwen must have slipped something in our tea! That would explain it Well, they're not getting away with it!"

"Why don't you just stop this whole thing?"

"And let Alan's team win? No way!!"

Kurt sighed and closed his eyes. Joe wouldn't change his mind, that was for sure.

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The next day, Katie and Joe were better, and Katie told Joe that she had a plan, though she'd need Dia's help. Katie went to the villa to talk to Dia, and they knew just what to do

"OK, Bob's gone," Katie whispered. She and Dia were hiding behind a tree near the stable at Brownie Farm. 

"Alright, go," Dia told her. "Be quick."

Katie ran into the stable. It was unlocked. She found the horse she was looking for and led it out. Dia followed her out of the ranch.

"Hehe, I'm glad that Mille trusts me!" Katie patted the horse. "You're my friend too, right, girl?"

"Here's the stable. I'll tell the maids that we have an extra horse." Dia and Katie put Mille into one of the stables at the villa. "This ought to be interesting"

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"What do you mean, Mille's gone?!?!" Gwen demanded. Her fists were balled and she looked ready to slug Bob. He was trying to calm her down.

"Don't worry, don't worry, I'm sure she's fine. Maybe she just wandered out."

"That's my prize horse!! The horse who—almost—won the race!" Gwen screeched. She tried to punch Bob, but he ducked just in time. "You'd better find her soon, or else!"

"Or else what?!" Bob shouted at her. "There's nothing that we can do other than look, Gwen. Yelling at me isn't going to do anything!"

"It makes me feel better, that's what." Gwen scowled. "You'd better find my horse, Bob!" Gwen stomped off.

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Tim was at the villa again, looking for any more clues that might lead him to the Sacred Land. Since Miss Clove didn't mind him looking wherever he wanted, he wandered near the stable on the villa, intruigued by a pile of rocks

"That's really weird," he thought aloud. "Can I climb them?"

He turned around to look over the land again. He'd never noticed the stable before. It looked a little more run-down than the rest of the house, so it had probably been there before the house was built. It was small, too, being able to accommodate maybe two or three animals at the most.

Being the curious boy that he was, he decided to take a look at it. He recognized the only horse inside.

"Mille?!"

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"You'd better have one heck of a good excuse for having my horse in your stable," Gwen angrily told Dia. 

Dia managed to keep a straight face. "Indeed I do," she answered. "You made my dear friend Katie ill. I could not allow that to stand."

Katie had to blush a little when Dia called her a "dear friend". 

"Well, you scared the heck out of me by hiding my horse!!" Gwen snapped. "I'll get you for that, Dia Clove!" Gwen left with her horse.

Katie sighed and shook her head. "That was fun, but Tim had to ruin it early on"

"Tim meant no harm. He is just doing his job." Dia sighed. "Truthfully, I would have been more worried if he hadn't told Gwen about her horse being here She would have been much more angry if Tim had kept it a secret."

"Yeah, I guess so. Well, I'll see you later, Dia!" Katie waved to her friend and went home.


	4. Fun With Toilet Paper

Um, uh, be careful not to let that moose get too close... (???)

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The Prank War  
Chapter 4: Fun With Toilet Paper

"Think this is enough?" Alan asked.

"Nah," Gwen answered, taking more from the shelf. "We need more."

"More?" Bob took an armful of toilet paper packages, which, of course, was the rest of the paper on the shelf. "That enough?"

"Yeah!" Gwen exclaimed. "All right guys, um, who's paying?"

"We're all in on this, remember?" Alan reminded her.

"Oh yeah. So, Louis, how much?" Gwen asked the stunned shopkeeper.

"Um let me calculate that" Louis entered the price of one package of toilet paper and multiplied it by "How many packages are you getting?"

"Uh, hold on," Bob was counting, "Thirty-three."

Louis calculated it. "That will be 3630G."

"Great, I've got 900G." Gwen slapped her money on the counter. "Bob?"

"1200." Bob put his money on the counter.

"Heh, um, Alan, you have the rest?"

"Man, you guys are gonna run me dry" Alan moaned as he searched his pockets.

"I have another 300, I just didn't want to use it," Gwen sighed. She pulled some more gold coins from her pocket. "That leaves you with how much more do we need, Louis?"

"1230," he answered. "Um, mind if I ask?"

"Don't," Gwen snapped. "It's none of your beeswax."

"1230G, yeah, I've got it." Alan managed to scrape together enough money. "Here you go, Louis."

"Th-thank you," Louis put all the money in the register, knowing that he'd have an interesting story to tell Lyla when he got home. How often was it that three young people enter the store and buy every single roll of toilet paper?

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Lyla had the day off, and was walking around, gathering nuts and berries and other things to use in her cooking at home. She prefered to gather her own rather than buying them from the supermarket.

"Hey, Lyla!!" Katie waved to her friend when she neared the café. "Taking a walk?"

"No, gathering berries and such. How are you Katie? Feeling better?"

"Better than ever!" Katie noticed some red plants in Lyla's basket. "Ew, why are you gathering those?"

"These?" Lyla picked up one of the red plants. "This is a medicinal herb. Louis taught me how to make medicine from it, so I've been practicing. It doesn't taste that great, but I want to try mixing it with berry juice. That ought to make it taste better, or worse, it depends"

"There's a lot of good berries and herbs over at the villa," Katie told her. "Ever tried going there?"

"Well, no, I prefer to stick to this forest."

"Ah, I'd suggest to go try it out! I just saw a very good veryberry patch there yesterday."

Lyla bit her lip. "But what if Miss Clove doesn't want me there?"

"Just tell her you're a friend of mine," Katie suggested. "I have to go to work now. See you later, Lyla!"

Lyla waved to her, and Katie went into the café.

Well, there was no harm in going to the villa

Lyla walked past the supermarket, past her own shop and Louis' shop, past Brownie Ranch. Clove's Villa was not only the largest and most splendid house in the whole village, it was also the most isolated.

Lyla could quickly see that Katie had been right about the veryberry patch. It was huge! Lyla picked as many berries as her basket could hold, then began to leave. She turned around to look at the house

"Oh, dear lord" Lyla dropped her basket in surprise.

The house was covered in toilet paper!!

Gina was pacing about outside the house, trying to clean things up. Lyla left her basket there and ran to her.

"Oh dear, oh dear, Miss Dia is going to be very angry," Gina fretted. "I do not know who did this, but she is not going to be pleased. I must clean it!"

Lyla helped her pull off some of the longer stands of paper. "You don't know who did this?" she asked.

"I never saw anyone, ma'am." Gina had a trashcan with her and was stuffing paper into it.

Lyla suddenly recalled something Louis had mentioned to her the other night, after he'd gotten home from work. "Oh, no"

"What is it, ma'am?"

"Hold on. I must hurry home for a moment." Lyla ran back to her basket, picked it up, and went to her husband's shop.

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"Heh, Silver Fishing Rod, you are almost as good as mine!" Joe held the silver rod in his hands, admiring it. "4500G, right, Louis?"

"Yeah, that's right." Louis was writing some sort of report. 

"I need 500G," Joe sighed. "Then I can take this thing home."

"Anything in particular you need?" Louis asked.

"Nah, not really, just came here to admi— Whoah! Hey, man, what happened to all the toilet paper?" Joe's jaw dropped when he saw the empty shelf.

"Some people bought all of it a couple of days ago. Pretty weird, if you ask me," Louis responded.

"Who?"

Before Louis could answer, Lyla burst into the shop. "Louis, didn't you say you sold all the toilet paper in the shop the other day?"

"Yeah," Louis answered, giving her a worried look. "What's wrong?"

"Someone toilet papered Clove's Villa!"

"Shoot!!!" Joe exclaimed. "Louis, who did you sell it to?!"

"Bob, Gwen, and Alan."

"Oh man," Joe moaned, "Great. Looks like they did a number on the villa!"

Lyla shook her head. "That is going to be such a mess to clean up Louis, I'm going to help, so I'm afraid I won't come home until the evening."

Louis nodded. "I understand."

"See you later!" Lyla waved to both guys and left.

"Wait!" Joe stopped her at the door. "Did you tell Katie?"

"No, I didn't."

"I'll go then."

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"They did WHAT to Clove's Villa?!" Katie was wide-eyed.

"You heard me. Toilet papered it!" Joe shook his head. "We need to get them back"

"I'm out of ideas, though," Katie moaned. "Let's go to the villa and help clean it."

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Joe, Kurt, Katie, Lyla, Gina, Dia, and, later on, Louis, did their best to clean up the outside of the villa. Martha stayed inside to keep the house clean and also to cook for everyone.

"This shall take more than one day." Dia's clothes were a bit dishevled and her hair was almost as messy as Louis', but she didn't care. "We cannot let them get away with this."

"Yeah," Katie agreed, "They're going to that stupid karaoke party tomorrow night at the bar, and we have to clean up the mess they made"

"Karaoke party? Ha ha, Alan can't sing worth squat," Joe laughed. "And remember the last party, Katie? Jason and Bob were so drunk that they started singing children's songs to the tune of modern pop songs!"

Katie laughed. "Yeah, I remember! You were pretty drunk too, Joe. I'm surprised you even remember that!"

Joe blushed. "Er, well, at least I didn't make a fool out of myself"

"Not that time anyway." Katie stuffed more paper into the trashcan at her side.

"Children's songs?" Lyla seemed to be thinking of something. "I have a tape of karaoke versions of many children's songs, something I got when I was little."

"Heh, man, we should play _that_ at the party," Joe joked.

"Maybe you should," Lyla suggested. "I'm serious."

"I'm in charge of the music!" Katie exclaimed. "Let's do that, Joe!"

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So that's just what they decided to do. Play popular children's songs when Alan and his brothers and cousin were supposed to sing.

"Ew, I think that the kiddy songs are better." Katie was looking over the CDs and tapes she was supposed to play for them. "Look at some of these songs!"

"We're doing them a favor!" Joe laughed. "Yo, Katie, would you mind getting me a—"

"No alcohol," Katie said firmly. "We can't have you getting drunk this time, Joe."

"Aw But Alan's gonna suspect something right away if I don't have a beer with me," Joe pressed.

Katie shook her head. "Please, Joe? Promise me you'll stay sober just this one time. Please?" Katie did her best puppy dog look.

Joe sighed, and slowly nodded. "All right," he finally said. "I promise. No alcohol tonight."

"Yay!" Katie hugged him, something that startled him. She rarely went for any type of physical contact with anyone, not even her grandpa. "Thank you!"

"Uh, no problem," he blushed, glad no one else was watching.

Katie suddenly pulled away. "What's wrong?" she asked. "Don't you know that you generally hug a person back when they hug you?"

"Uh, I was startled, was all," Joe sheepishly answered.

Katie giggled. "You men are weird."

"No," Joe motioned to the door. "Weird is here."

Alan, JC, Jason, and Bob had just entered.

"Hey!" Katie called to them. "Guess we forgot to put the No Jerks Allowed' sign on the door, eh, Joe?"

"Then we would have had to throw you two out," Alan answered. 

"Ha ha, very funny." Katie stuck her tongue out at them. Joe had to bite his lip to keep from laughing. Katie was fairly mature, but she had her moments

"Who all will be singing tonight?" JC asked.

Katie looked over the list. "First oh dear lord, it's Ronald!" Everyone groaned. "Then Grandpa?? I don't know why, but he asked then, Gwen, where is she?"

"Coming," Joe answered. "She said she had to get ready' first."

"Well, she acts like a girl once in a while. Finally, it's you four."

"Oh yeah, the Boy Band Wannabes!" Jason grinned.

"You have a name for us now?" Alan asked.

"Yeah, a lame name," Joe laughed.

Katie shook her head. "Well, everything's ready, now we just need to wait for Ronald, Grandpa, and Gwen."

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Ronald and Gwen finally arrived, and Katie's grandfather came from the kitchen. 

Ronald sung some older songs, terribly off key, and the only reason that he got an applause was because it was over, and no one would have to hear him sing again until next time.

Wallace sung some _really_ old songs back from when he was young, which, to Katie's surprise, she really enjoyed. Gwen was good, too, singing some modern stuff.

Then it came to the "Boy Band Wannabes"

"All right, we're gonna blow you away! Katie, get the music started." JC pointed to her.

"Or else," Alan added.

Katie nodded. "Got that tape from Lyla?" Joe whispered to her. He was with her behind the counter.

"Yup, I'm putting it in." Katie put the tape into the player, then she and Joe sat back to listen to the "awesome" singing of the guys

"This'll be interesting," Joe whispered as he put an arm around the back of Katie's chair. She nodded and smiled.

No words could describe the look on the guys' faces when, instead of the song they expected, they heard "Mary Had a Little Lamb" playing! The whole bar erupted into laughter.

The guys played along, though Alan swore to himself that he'd get Joe and Katie back REALLY good for this one! The next song was "Row Your Boat", and Alan was actually able to adapt it to the situation__

"Row, row, row your boat  
In the piranha-invested stream!  
Throw Joe overboard  
And listen to him scream!"

The bar erupted into laughter again, while Joe and Katie looked, shocked, at each other. "Oh man, I'd bet he'd do it," Joe muttered.

Bob got the hang of it, too. To the tune of "London Bridge if Falling Down" __

"I wanna hurt you now, hurt you now, torture you now,  
So if you know what's good for you,  
Run, Joe and Katie!"

The torture only lasted a few minutes more, as their turn was up. As soon as the music was over, Alan, JC, Jason, and Bob marched straight to Katie and Joe and demanded an explaination.

"Does toilet paper' ring a bell?" Joe asked.

"Yeah," Katie agreed, "That's what happens when you trash the villa!"

"We are gonna get you for that. _Really_ good!" Alan crossed his arms. "We'll make you two sorry you were ever born!"

"Oh, I'm so scared," Joe mocked. 

"You will be!"

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"Ugh, almost there" 

Tim was climbing the pile of rocks he'd seen at the villa the other day, a couple of days before it was toilet papered. There was something at the other end, he just had to find it.

"There!" Tim scrambled down on the other side. There was another area here, surrounded by stone walls on all sides. There was a plot of bare earth in the center, a well, and a large stone slab.

Excited, Tim ran to the slab. There was writing on it!

"Plant the crops so that the gold will appear Huh?"

Tim examined the stone slab and the bare earth a little more closely, then figured it out. The earth was marked with hearts, squares, musical notes, and stars. That was a guide for what he should plant, and where.

"Cool! The Sacred Land! I wonder what the gold is?"

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Credit to my sister for coming up with that weird version of "London Bridge is Falling Down." =P__


	5. The Golden Sweet Potato

Um, if you haven't finished either Treasure Hunt ending, there are some spoilers here. So, beware!  
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The Prank War  
Chapter 5: The Golden Sweet Potato

"What are you going to do to Joe and Katie?" JC asked.

"I dunno," Alan admitted. "I wanted to try to find some way to break them up, but I don't know how"

"We shouldn't do something that drastic," Jason suggested. "We need some other idea."

"Guys!!" Tim ran up, excited. "I found the Sacred Land!! I need some help, though."

"Oh my gosh, you _found _it?!" Alan was shocked. "Are you sure, kiddo?"

"I'm sure! I need some crops to plant, and fast!"

The young men looked at each other, none of them wanting to go to the Flower Shop with Tim. Finally, JC just took out his wallet and handed it to Tim.

"Knock yourself out, kiddo," JC told him. "Just get what you need and be _sure_ to give that back to me."

"Thank you! Thank you so much! I'll give it back!" Tim jumped up and down in his excitement and sped to the Flower Shop. 

"OK, back to business," Alan grumbled. "Guys, any ideas? I'm totally out!"

"Maybe we could get Gwen to ask Woody to fire Joe. That would solve a lot, right?" Jason suggested.

"But Katie?"

"Oh, right." Jason scratched his head. "Yeah, that's one dilly of a pickle"

"I doubt Katie's grandfather would fire her," Alan agreed. "And if Joe got fired, he'd probably start working at the café or something."

"Darn. We need a plan!" JC shook his head. "If only we could think of one"

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"OK, so, that's 6 packages of corn seeds, 6 of tomato seeds, 4 of breadfruit seeds, and 9 of potato seeds. That's 700G." Lyla turned to her young customer, hoping that he had enough money to pay for it all.

"Wow, cool, that's expensive. I've never bought so much stuff!" Tim fished out 700G from JC's wallet and gave it to Lyla. "I found some special land in Praria Forest, and I gotta plant these there. It says that when they're all ripe, gold will appear!"

"Gold what?" Lyla asked. This sounded interesting

"I don't know," Tim admitted. "I just gotta take good care of these and find out."

"Do you know much about growing crops? Have you ever done so before?" Lyla asked.

Tim scratched his head. "Uh, no"

"Well, I suppose I can close the shop early, if you'd like me to help you." Lyla offered.

"Oh, well, you have to climb over a pile of rocks to get to the Sacred Land," Tim informed her, noticing that Lyla was wearing a long, relatively tight skirt. "Would you be OK to do that?"

"Oh, yes, good point," Lyla glanced down at her clothing. "Hold on, let me change. Wait here. If I can't find anything," she added, "I'm sure my husband wouldn't mind me borrowing some of his clothes!"

Tim laughed, trying to imagine Lyla wearing Louis' clothing Yeah, that was something you didn't see every day!

Lyla did end up having to wear a pair of dark pants and a light shirt of Louis'. "Everyone's going to wonder what I'm doing," she chuckled, taking the flowers out of her hair to add to the "shocking" effect. "Oh well, lead the way, Tim!"

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Tim did grow the crops with Lyla's help. She came every single day to the Sacred Land to make sure that everything was taken care of properly. She also took to wearing Louis' clothing for a little while, something the whole village got a bit of a laugh at. Not that Louis minded, he actually liked seeing his wife dressed like that She had a different air about her, even stepping into his shop to help him sometimes.

"I feel more tomboyish dressed like this," Lyla told Katie. "It's amazing what clothing can do!"

"Hee hee, you look different, too!" Katie commented. "So, how's it going?"

"Well, Tim found some golden seeds in that land He planted them outside my shop, in case you didn't notice already."

"I saw. Are you helping him?" Katie asked.

"Yes, I am. And I swore to myself that tomorrow I will start dressing normally again," Lyla laughed. "I feel so strange lately, it's not just the clothing. I've changed, and I don't even know why. But it must be a change for the better, because I think I'm even closer to Louis than I was before. I think I get a lot more nervous lately, though." Lyla sighed.

"Nervous? Why?"

"Yesterday I was fretting about dinner, so afraid that it would burn." Lyla shook her head. "I got so worked up over it that I almost got sick. I just couldn't eat. Dinner came out perfectly, but I just couldn't eat! I hate it when that stuff happens, but it happens a lot lately. I couldn't eat this morning, too, I was still so worked up." Lyla sighed. "Guess that's just a side effect of being female."

"Yeah," Katie laughed. "Why do we have to be the ones who get so emotionally worked up, eh?"

"Exactly," Lyla agreed, then suddenly grimaced and put a hand to her stomach. "Ooh, I didn't eat breakfast this morning, I'm hungry, I really need to eat something."

"Hey, don't get sick," Katie looked at her, worried.

"I'll try not to"

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"It bloomed it bloomed it bloomed!!!" Tim ran around outside the Flower Shop, shouting the great news to no one. "It bloomed! Lyla! Where are you? Lyla?" He knocked on the door, no answer. "Louis? Hello?"

"Idiot, it's only 5AM!" Kayla came up behind the boy and shook her head. "Lyla and Louis are still asleep."

"Darn it, OK, I'll wait. Look! A gold flower!" Tim knelt down next to the flower, which even Kayla had to admit was very, very beautiful. "Is it just me, or is it glowing?"

"It's glowing." Kayla noticed it too. "Wow, that must be a very special flower."

An hour passed, Kayla and Tim just sat next to the flower bed and talked while gazing at the flower. Lyla finally came out of the house to water her flowers.

"Good morning," Lyla waved to them. "Oh, the flower"

"It bloomed!" Tim exclaimed. "Isn't it cool?"

Lyla examined it. "'A golden flower, that shall bear a golden fruit' I think this may be it"

"Huh?" Kayla asked, confused.

"My grandmother told me about a golden flower one time, a flower that bears a golden fruit. You have to dig it up," she explained. "She said it was actually a very bland fruit, but it was very nutritious and kept the people here alive. I can't remember what she said that fruit was, though"

"Wow, cool! Can I dig it up?" Tim asked.

Lyla smiled. "Go ahead."

"Yaay!" Tim got on his hands and knees and began to dig. He pulled a potato out of the ground. "What the?"

"The Golden Sweet Potato!" Lyla exclaimed. "That was it!"

"Golden Sweet Potato?" Tim and Kayla both asked.

"Yes, it's very bland, but very good for you, and you can get up to sixteen potatoes from one plant. Look around, Tim," Lyla suggested, "There should be more potatoes down there."

"Wow, cool!" Tim was digging up more. "This is awesome!"

"I've never seen anything like this," Kayla agreed. "We should tell everyone!"

Lyla nodded in agreement. "This is very rare, and very old."

"Come on, Kayla!" Tim jumped up and down with excitement. "Let's tell Bob first!"

Lyla waved goodbye to them, and decided to go tell Louis before anyone else had a chance to.

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"Bleh, I give up. I cannot honestly think of another way to get at Joe and Katie," Alan admitted. "Guess we'll just leave the prank war at that."

"Yeah, they win." Jason sighed. "Oh well. We had some victories, too."

"Yoo-hoo! Guys! You'll never guess what happened!" Tim and Kayla ran up, Tim holding a potato.

"What the heck? Why are you carrying that?" Alan asked.

"It's a Golden Sweet Potato," Tim explained. "Lyla said they're really rare and used to grow here a long time ago. They were the treasure I found!"

"Doesn't look too golden to me," Jason commented, looking it over.

"It's bland, but very nutritious, and you can get many from one plant," Kayla explained. "This is really great! We should celebrate somehow!"

"Talk to Woody. He's the village elder, after all," Alan suggested.

"We will!" Kayla and Tim left.

"Hey, if we celebrate with a party maybe we still have a chance!" Alan exclaimed. "Man, what if they do a cooking festival, we could put something in Katie's dishes"

Jason laughed. "Great idea, man! Humiliate her in public like she did to us I like the idea."

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Remember... Moose bites are pretty painful. (???)


	6. Festival Fiasco

Oh, I should mention... there might be some minor spoilers to people who have not completed either of the Treasure Hunt endings. So beware.

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The Prank War  
Chapter 6: Festival Fiasco

It was decided that they would hold a cooking festival the next day, in which everyone who wanted to would bring a dish. The festival would be held in Walnut Forest, around the carpenter's shop.

"I'm cooking fish," Katie told Joe in a sing-song voice when he visited her at the café. "Want to try some?"

"Sure, I wouldn't mind," he answered, excited. He _loved_ cooked fish, but didn't get to have it often.

Katie let him try a bite of a cooked and seasoned fish, and Joe loved it. "Remember, you're cooking that for _me,_" he joked. "No one else can have it, right?"

Katie giggled. "Oh, Joe, if you want it so much, you'll have to make sure that you come early and guard it yourself. I can't do that. I'm also going to be baking a pie and some cakes, but I know that you won't be interested in that, soo"

It was then that Katie realized her grandfather was in there to check on something he was making. "Pardon me," he chuckled, "I'll leave you two alone in a minute."

"What, why the bashful look, Grandpa?" Katie asked. She was feeling really giddy today.

"I just don't want to interrupt you two is all," Wallace said with a smile.

"Oh, Grandpa!" Katie scowled. "You tease me a lot!"

Joe blushed. "Uh, er, I'd be willing to try your cakes and stuff, too, Katie, if you want me to."

"Oh really? Well, you'll have to wait because I haven't started them yet." Katie smiled at him. "Fish takes longer."

"Are those fish I caught?" he asked.

Katie nodded. "Of course! I wouldn't use any other fish, not when cooking for you," she smiled sweetly at him.

"Well, I gotta run," Joe said a little while later. "Guess who is in charge of setting up tables?"

"You? Wow, that's cool! I'll see you later, Joe."

"Later, Katie!"

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"What kind of stuff will Katie be making?" Bob wondered. 

"Unedible stuff," Alan answered. "We just gotta put something in the stuff she makes so that everyone'll hate it!"

"Shouldn't be too hard, everyone will probably hate it anyway," Kayla laughed.

"Good point, but we have to make it REALLY bad," JC said. "Like adding pepper to stuff makes it bad, right?"

"No, pepper spray!" Jason suggetsed, and everyone laughed.

"Wait, I think we have some." Bob rummaged around in a cabinent somewhere, and found pepper spray.

"Why in the world do we have that?" Kayla asked.

"I don't know, Dad kept it for a long time," Bob answered.

"Yes, all right, this will work great!" Alan took the spray.

"Do you think Lyla will be making anything?" Kayla asked.

"Probably," Jason answered. "Why?"

"I heard from Gwen that the tape Katie played at the party was actually Lyla's," Kayla answered. "You should put something in whatever she makes, too."

"IF she makes anything. Lyla's known for burning things, you know," Bob pointed out.

"Very true," Kayla agreed, "But Lyla is probably one of the best cooks in the village, when she actually makes something that's good. This would be a great way to get at her!"

"We're all so evil," Alan laughed. "But, it's agreed. We'll mess up Katie _and_ Lyla's cooking!"

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Katie cooked lots of fish and also baked an apple pie and a few different cakes for the festival. Lyla had tried cooking lots of different dishes, and brought only the best to the festival. Gina and Martha, the maids at Clove's Villa, had also made different dishes, and even Gwen had prepared a type of vegetable stew. (She refused to use any meat in her cooking.) Wallace, of course, had made the most dishes, but then again, cooking was his profession.

"Grandpa said my cakes and the pie came out great," Katie told Lyla. "Hee hee, I hope everyone likes them."

"I made a few pies, too, but Louis ate the best one while we were still at home," Lyla laughed. "Oh well. I made a lot of other dishes that came out OK, but I left them at home. I've been trying to teach Louis some basic cooking, too, but he doesn't have time to practice very often."

"Oh great, look, trouble's here," Katie muttered when the group from Brownie Ranch arrived. "Hey, where's Joe?"

"I don't see him," Lyla looked around. "He must be in one of the buildings."

"Whoah, lots of food, man! Are you sure we should do this?" JC asked, his mouth watering when he saw some of the dishes.

"Of course we'll do it!" Alan snapped, patting the pepper spray in his pocket. "Just first we need to find out what Lyla and Katie made"

"Don't ruin all the dishes," JC suggested. "I wanna pig out today!"

"Me too," Jason agreed.

"Do they serve alcohol here?" Bob asked aloud. 

The other guys groaned. "Sure, nothing like being drunk before 10AM," Alan muttered. "Go knock yourself out, Bob."

Kayla made a face. "How can you like something that tastes so nasty?" she asked. "Beer is gross."

"You need to try wine," Jason told her. "Nut wine is really good."

"Well, I hardly go to the bar," Kayla chuckled. "Maybe I'll try that next time. Is it sweet?"

"Yeah, it's pretty sweet."

"Look, there's Lyla!" Alan finally spotted the pink-haired woman. "But what did she cook?"

"Beats me," JC shrugged. "Just keep an eye on her and see which dish she introduces to people as her own."

Alan did that, and finally found out when Lyla showed her dishes to Gwen. "Try it," Lyla suggested, "This cranberry pie came out very good!"

"It looks good," Gwen agreed as she took a slice. "Wow, Lyla, if only everything you baked came out this good!"

"Yeah I made that veryberry pie, too," Lyla motioned to it. "Right next to Katie's apple pie. They're both good, too."

"I'll try them later," Gwen promised. "I need to show off my stew to people!"

Lyla chuckled and waved to her, then left the table to join her husband. Alan crept up and put a light dusting of pepper spray on Lyla's cranberry pie and Katie's apple pie. "Heh heh"

"What the heck are you doing?!" Alan heard a voice behind him. He gulped and turned around, finding himself face-to-face with an angry Joe. "What did you just do to Katie's pie?"

"I was looking over these pies, which I am NOT gonna touch," Alan answered. "I hate pie, man! It's nasty! Particulairly, sweet pie, like that veryberry pie!"

"Katie made an apple pie. You're pointing to Lyla's," Joe dryly pointed out.

"Uh, whatever. I'm surprised you're not over there indulging in alcohol with Bob," Alan changed the subject.

"Well," Joe shook his head, "I _would_ be, but I promised Katie I'd stay dry until at least noon. So I'm just waiting."

Alan watched as Bob ran into the outhouse near Kurt and Joe's shack. Gwen was laughing at him. "Looks like Bob's had enough!" Alan commented.

"Hard to fill that guy," Joe agreed. "Ugh, my outhouse I just cleaned it up..."

Alan decided to run and join Gwen. "What happened?"

"Heh, I think Bob had a little too much to drink," Gwen chuckled. "Oh well. When he comes out of there, he might be a little more sober. _Might_."

"Psst, by the way, I put pepper spray on some of Lyla and Katie's pies," Alan whispered. "So don't eat any more pie, OK?"

"Gotcha," Gwen said. "Heh, I wonder how long it will take everyone to notice?"

It didn't take very long. Ronald was trying Katie's pie, and had to promptly spit it out.

"Oh man, what did they use to flavor this?" he asked, washing it down with juice. "That's HOT! It tastes like pepper!"

Wallace tried a bit of it, and agreed. "Oh dear, I _told_ Katie to be careful"

Lyla tried some a little later, too, and ended up getting sick from it. Louis had to take her home. People got the same type of reaction from Lyla's pie, as well.

"What happened?!" Katie was almost frantic. "That pie was fine when I left home!! What happened to it?"

"Great," Joe suddenly recalled, "You know what? I saw Alan hanging around the pies, earlier. I swear I saw him put something on them. It musta been pepper or something."

"Pepper spray, to be exact," Alan laughed. "That's what you get for messing with the karaoke party!"

"But Lyla got sick!" Katie was angry. "She's been feeling bad a lot lately and you just made it a lot worse!"

"So?" Alan asked. "She'll be fine tomorrow. I didn't put much pepper spray on it."

"You jerk! I hope you're sorry!" Katie, shaking with anger, decided to leave to check on Lyla.

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"Ooh, I can't take spicy foods at all," Lyla moaned when Katie came to her. "What happened to the pie?"

"Alan put pepper spray on it," Katie muttered. "I shoulda made him eat the whole thing. At least he didn't ruin my fish!"

"Well, what's done is done. But now I'm afraid I won't be able to eat for another few days." Lyla sighed and laid back in bed. Louis had propped up the pillows so that she could sit up. Katie took her hand.

"Do you want water or something?" she asked. 

"I already have that." Lyla sat back up. "Katie there's something I really want to tell you I haven't told Louis yet, but I know I should"

"Where is Louis?" Katie asked, having noticed that he wasn't around.

"Getting me some medicine. He has stuff to help with an upset stomach. It really works, too." Lyla smiled. "He's so wonderful"

"What is it you want to tell me?" Katie asked.

"I think I think" Lyla blushed and leaned closer to Katie so that she could almost whisper. "I'm not sure, but You know how I haven't been normal lately?"

Katie nodded. Duh, the whole town probably knew by now.

"There's something else, too. My... cycle, if you know what I mean, well, I've missed the past two months." She leaned even closer, and whispered to Katie, "I'm not sure, but I think I might be pregnant."

Katie gasped. "Oh my gosh! Lyla! That's great!"

"Shh, not too loud," Lyla scolded, "I'm not sure, I want to find out for sure before I tell Louis."

"So then, you're always feeling nauseous and I'll bet that spice didn't help," Katie muttered. "I'm really sorry, Lyla. We should just stop this whole prank thing, I don't want anyone else to get hurt I'm supposed to go back to school tomorrow, anyway," she moaned. "Back to the same old routine"

"Are you packed yet?" Lyla asked.

"Yeah. I leave mid-day tomorrow. I'll be sure to stop by to say goodbye."

"When will you be back?"

"In four months. I'll be sure to write you, though," Katie promised. "And when I come back, I'll be back to stay!"

Lyla would have said something else, but Louis came in with the medicine then—and Joe. "How are you, Lyla?" Joe asked. "Stupid Alan played a prank on us"

"I'll be fine," Lyla assured him. "I just can't take spicy foods."

Lyla took the medicine, and Joe and Katie decided it was best to leave. "Heh, don't worry about getting back to Alan," Joe told her, "_Everyone's_ a bit upset about what he did."

"That's good." Katie sighed. "What a way to ruin my last day here"

Joe sighed. "I wish you wouldn't have mentioned that you make it sound so final"

Katie smiled. "OK, then, the last day before I leave for my four-month-long trip. How's that?"

"Better. I'm still gonna miss you, though."

"Maybe you can come visit me," Katie suggested. "They allow visitors. Grandpa's come once or twice."

Joe didn't answer at first. Yes, he had every intention of visiting Katie while she was at school, but there was something else on his mind, too

"Wallace, can I talk to you?" Joe asked next time he was at the bar, the day that Katie left. She'd only been gone a few hours, but Joe already missed her sorely.

"Sure, what's the problem?" Wallace asked.

"Not a problem so much, um," Joe blushed. "I'd like to ask you about your granddaughter"

"Oh, Katie," Wallace laughed. "What about her? She's quite fond of you, young man."

Joe nodded. "I know. And I'm really fond of her, too. I was wondering" Joe looked around to make sure no one else was in earshot. Actually no one else was there, but he wanted to keep it quiet, anyway. He leaned over and asked Wallace a question. Wallace's eyes grew wide, but he nodded. 

"So then, I can go with you to Flowerbud City next time?" Joe asked.

"Absolutely," Wallace answered.


	7. The End and the Beginning

Well, here's the end. Finally. =P Just so you know, I don't know why I gave Katie the last name that I did, but Joe's last name I got from someone I know in real life who lives in my hometown. He's a carpenter, and his last name is Neuman. I always liked that last name, so I decided to use that for Joe's surname.

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The Prank War  
Epilogue: The End and the... Beginning

_Almost 4 months later_

"No more science experiments," Katie groaned to her roommate, Ann. Ann had just finished building some "great" machine she'd been working on for the past few months, turned it on, and the machine had thrown sparks and smoke until Ann turned it off. 

"My bad," Ann apologized, "Rebecca was screwing with this thing earlier, and I knew that she was just trying to ruin it. The problem must be here what the" Ann pulled out a gum wrapper from the inside of the machine. "Well, that must be the problem! Hee hee."

Ann turned in on again, and Katie kept her distance. Sure enough, the machine exploded. Not a big explosion, but enough to fill the room with smoke.

Katie coughed. "I'm outta here," she said to Ann. "See ya!"

Katie ran into another girl in the hallway. "Hey, Katie Warren, some people are here to see you."

"Really?" Katie asked. "Grandpa?"

"No, it was some other people."

"Other people?" Katie's heart skipped a beat. No one but her grandfather had ever visited her at school, and since she had returned nearly four months ago, even he hadn't dropped by. But now, some others were here to see her? "Are they in the lobby?"

"Yes."

Katie ran down the stairs, through the dining room, and reached the lobby. There, sitting in some of the chairs available for visitors, were Louis and Lyla!

"Lyla!" Katie nearly screeched when she saw her friend, who was quite heavy with child. "I wasn't expecting you to come!"

Lyla laughed as she got up to hug Katie. "We came to the city for a doctor's appointment, and just decided to drop in for a visit."

"Oh, wow!" Katie gently put a hand on Lyla's stomach. "When's it due?"

"About three months," Louis answered. "I can't wait to see it it's a girl or a boy!"

"It will be a boy," Lyla said, somewhat firmly. "I just know it."

"But the doctor said"

"It's inside of me," Lyla interupted her husband, "And I have a feeling that it's going to be a boy. I'm not sure why, but I'm certain it will be a boy."

"I want to help you take care of him, or her, when it's born," Katie said. She sighed. "I want to be a mother myself someday"

"You will," Lyla chuckled. "And, oh, by the way, Joe came with us, but he went off to some shop and said he'd like to see you alone, a little later."

"A shop?" Katie muttered. "A fishing supply shop, probably. There's a good one around here."

"I don't know where he went," Louis told her, "But he insisted on seeing you alone."

"Well, would you like me to show you around here?" Katie asked. "This place is really nice."

"Are you up to that much walking?" Louis asked his wife.

"Yes, I think so," Lyla answered. "Let's go!"

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Later that night, right before Louis and Lyla left, Joe came in.

"Sorry I took so long," he apologized, "I kinda got lost on my way back."

Katie giggled. "That's OK, Joe. I'm really, really, REALLY glad to see you!" She ran to him and hugged him within an inch of his life. Joe gasped.

"Katie, I need air"

"Oops, sorry!" Katie let go.

"Well, we'll be going then." Lyla waved to her friend. "I'll see you again when you get home, Katie!"

"Just a couple more weeks!" Katie waved to them, and they left. She turned to Joe. "What do you want to talk to me about?"

"Well First, um, how are you doing?" It was obvious that Joe was nervous about something. Katie sensed that right away.

"I'm fine, are you?" she asked. "What are you so nervous about?"

"Um, nothing," he quickly answered, reaching into his pocket for something. "Well, Katie, there's something I want to give you could you close your eyes for a moment?"

"Sure!" Katie closed her eyes, wondering what it was that he wanted to give her. Maybe he didn't go to that fishing supply store after all

"All right, open your eyes."

Joe was kneeling before her, and holding out to her

A Blue Feather!

Katie gasped and covered her mouth with her hands! "J-Joe?! You, you know what that's for, right?"

"Of course I do," he swallowed hard. "I talked with your grandfather a lot about it since you left, Katie. He's fine with it, and I know it's the right thing to do. I've been thinking about it for awhile, but I wanted to wait until you were older, and now that you're coming back home in a couple of weeks I know the time is right. Katie" he took a deep breath, "Katherine Warren, will you marry me?"

Katie was silent for a few moments. She thought this day would never come, in fact, she'd just been telling Lyla how she hoped she'd be married someday hoped to be a mother now all of a sudden someone was proposing to her? It seemed too good to be true!

"Oh, Joe," she was almost shaking with excitement, "Of course I'll marry you!" She hugged him tightly, though she was certain not to squeeze the life out of him this time. "You've made me the happiest girl in the world!!"

"It's settled then!" Joe chuckled as he hugged her back. "Katie, we'll get married right after you come back home. Is that all right?"

"Of course!" she agreed. "Oh, I'll take this, hee hee." She snatched the Blue Feather from him.

"Well, I'd better get back to the hotel, Lyla sometimes gets pretty cranky at night and I want to make sure that I'm already fast asleep when she does," Joe chuckled. "I'll see you very soon, Katie, Honey, OK?"

"All right." Joe hesitated a moment, then kissed her. It wasn't the first time he'd kissed Katie, but, somehow, it felt different. As he was walking back to the hotel, he still couldn't believe it. At this time, within a couple of months from now, he would be a married man!

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_4 months later_

"No, Tim, that's not for you!" Kayla exclaimed when she saw her little brother trying to get to the wedding cake. Nearby, Gwen and JC laughed.

"Wow, that kid's a handful," JC observed.

"No," Gwen corrected, "Handful is here."

Louis had just arrived, with a baby carrier. Asleep inside the carrier was he and Lyla's one-month-old son, Richard, or Ricky as most people called him.

"Well, at least he's asleep Hey, Louis!" JC waved to him. "Where's Lyla?"

"Coming," Louis answered. "She's actually _in_ the wedding, you know."

"I can't believe Joe decided to marry that girl," Gwen sighed. "Katie gets on my nerves a lot, I hope Joe will be OK with her."

"Hey, Joe gets on everyone's nerves just as often," JC pointed out. "They're an even match."

Gwen laughed. "Yeah, all too true. Hey, is Alan gonna be here?"

"Maaaybe"

"What's with the maybe'?" Gwen asked. "Will he or will he not?"

"I have no idea," JC answered.

"TIM!!!" Kayla's angry voice interrupted every conversation in the room. "I told you to _stay_ _away_ from the refreshment table! So get out of here!!"

Tim had taken a glass of punch and some cookies from a neatly-arranged tray, messing everything up. "But I'm hungry, and thirsty," he whined. 

"You'll just have to wait!"

"Hold up, we're right by my house," Gwen pointed out. "Tim, if you want something, just ask me. I can get you something from the house."

"Um, actually, I am quite thirsty at the moment," Miss Dia Clove shyly told Gwen, "May I please have something?"

"Wait, I'll help you," Kurt offered. "Do you like tea?"

Dia nodded. "Yes, I love tea! It is quite good."

"I can make tea. Follow me." Kurt and Dia went up to Kurt and Joe's shack actually, it would just be Kurt's shack from now on.

"Heh, Kurt never misses an opprotunity to talk with Miss Clove," Gwen grinned. "Wonder when the next wedding will be?"

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"Dearly beloved," Pastor Carter, from nearby Mineral Village, had come to conduct the wedding in Walnut Forest. "We are gathered here today to witness the union of this young couple in holy matrimony." He rambled on for a few more minutes, then came to the part that everyone was waiting for. "Joseph Neuman, do you take this young woman, Katherine Warren, to be your lawfully wedded wife, as long as you both shall live?"

"I do," Joe said, gently, lost in Katie's lovely blue eyes.

"And do you, Katherine Warren, take this man, Joseph Neuman, to be your lawfully wedded husband, as long as you both shall live?"

"I do," Katie said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Then, by the power invested in me by the government and God, I pronounce you man and wife! You may kiss the You may continue kissing the bride," Carter chuckled, seeing that Katie and Joe had begun their kiss before he'd said so. A cheer rose up from the people assembled there.

They broke off their kiss, and Carter introduced the newly married couple. "I now present to you Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Neuman!"

"Joseph, hmph," Joe mumbled, grinning, as he and Katie walked down the aisle, Kurt and Lyla, acting as best man and maid of honor, closely behind them. "I hate my name"

"Get used to it," Katie laughed, "Since I'm Mrs. Joseph' now! And maybe people will joke that we're related to Alfred E. Neuman!"

Joe really laughed at that one! Lyla, behind them, also heard that, and was laughing pretty hard.

Alfred E. Neuman, she thought, _I'll have to tell _that_ one to Louis!_

"I don't believe it," Gwen muttered to JC during the reception. "I am so jealous of that girl!"

"Katie?" JC asked. "Why?"

"I, I don't know," Gwen blushed. "Maybe I'm just going nuts"

"TIMOTHY BROWN!!" Kayla screeched, waving a large knife at her little brother. "I _told _you not to touch anything!! TIM! You're NOT getting away with that!! Tim!!"

Tim had cut the wedding cake himself, before Joe and Katie had the chance to. Seeing that his older sister was infuriated by what he'd done, he fled from the scene and wasn't seen again for the rest of the day.

"Poor kid," Lyla laughed, "He's never been to a wedding before, so he doesn't know"

"Well, there's still young, single people in the village," Louis pointed out. "He'll get another chance."

"True." Lyla looked over the crowd down below. She and Louis were sitting on the ground near Kurt's shack, and Lyla had Ricky in her arms. "Where are Kurt and Miss Dia? I don't see them."

"I sense another wedding coming on sooner or later with those two," Gwen said. She had just joined Louis and Lyla.

JC joined his brothers and cousin, Bob. "Glad to see that those two got married," Alan said. "Heh, isn't it kinda funny? I'll bet the prank war helped to bring them closer together, didn't it?"

"Yeah, funny to think that we helped them, eh?" Jason laughed. 

"If only Jay and Justin could be helped like that," JC moaned.

"Yeah, there's not much hope for them," Alan agreed.

"Are your brothers still in the city?" Bob asked.

"Yeah," Alan answered. "They're great, fast workers, but they are worse than Joe and Katie. They're horrible people! I hope they never come here."

"You'll jinx it!" JC scolded. "If they come here this place is doomed."

"I wouldn't say doomed," Jason corrected him. "I'd say screwed." The guys all laughed at that.

"They're hundreds of miles away, so we don't have to worry." Alan looked up at the sky. "Living in Flowerbud City is hard."

"Yeah," JC agreed. "That's why we moved here. This is a great town."

"I'm glad you guys came," Bob told them. 

"The country is a little more lonely than the city," Alan said, "and when you don't get along with someone, you can't avoid them. But, still, this place is great, I'm glad it wasn't torn down to make a theme park a few years ago."

"Definitely!" JC, Bob, and Jason agreed.

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Well, finally. This story took me awhile to write, but I'm glad I pulled it off!

I am writing a sequel, too. It's pretty well under way. Seeing that there are so few STH fics on this site has compelled me to trying to write some short stories... I'm going to try, let's see how many I get done.

A big thanks to my sister who came up with the whole idea of the prank war and who gave my lots of support while I was writing this! Thanks, little sis. ^^;


End file.
